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Personas – valuable tool or a waste of time?

Sophie addressed the love hate relationship that most UX’ers have with Personas (for good reasons) and took us through the common pitfalls that cause them to fail. She gave advice, tips and industry examples, that could help turn a hate relationship with personas into a love-affair.

Slide 2: So…what are they? They are fictional, yet realistic descriptions of a typical or target user of a product or service Invented by Alan Cooper in 1998 (to build software for people, not what developers think) Since then, have been loved and hated (for good reasons) I personally love them: makes research come to life – keep discussions focused around user needs instead of opinions Understandable why they are hated. Lots of poor examples of Zombie personas. Will walk through some common fails and show how you can avoid these pitfalls.

Slide 3: Fail #1 - You talk about different things We have talked about creating personas – and this is how you start the process Maybe initially, you don’t realize that different people want different things from personas – we’ve noticed this Marketing (campaigns), designers (new features), sales (leads to sales), PM (shared idea of users), Content creators (who am I communicating with?). Set yourself up for failure if you assume that everyone has the same idea of what a persona is. Even though it can seem trivial – Important to get a shared idea of what they are, how you create them and how you’ll use them.

Slide 4: Fail #2 - You think personas can solve all your problems Would be great if personas were unicorns. If they alone could answer all your research questions you have about your users Wouldn’t it be great if all the different departmental needs could be satisfied by this artefact They most likely can’t be, so remember: you can always complement your personas with other artefacts.

Slide 5: Personas are great for some things… Good for insights into attitudes, motivations and defining the problem space – doesn’t matter if you’re in marketing & development Adding other artefacts can pinpoint specific/other aspects of the user experience

Slide 6: Forces diagram: Model of behaviour change (JTBD framework) This process looks at what factors are driving people to change a behavior, purchase a product, shift from one product to another. This diagram could easily complement each persona – highlighting how this persona would be inclined to switch to/buy your product

Slide 7: Customer Journey Map – End to end experience Personas are a snapshot of your users – not what they are doing, but experiencing in a process. Incorporate personas into journey maps helps to communicate the process they go through

Slide 8: User requirements/stories Turn research into user requirements or user stories (either high level or more detailed/functional) Translating user needs into more features, content, product specific stories Often the same user research data can be re-purposed – into different artefacts.

Slide 9: Fail #3: You don’t do research Your personas are only as good as the research that went into creating them Personas are not hypothetical – they should be based on field studies amongst real users Don’t download ready-made persona templates from Google (even though they are pretty and well designed) are only as good as the research that went into them. Personas are not hypothetical – they are derived from exhaustive, expert field studies (this was also one of Alan Coopers points back in 98).

Without research, your personas will just be a reflection of your assumptions. So we can’t recommend downloading one of the thousands of ready made persona templates from Google, get people from the business together in a room to fill them out – I wouldn’t call them personas. Basing your future strategy or new product on assumptive personas that are flawed – stating problems that you THINK your customers have – instead of uncovering them through research… that’s a strategy we will talk you out of at any time  Creating personas is a problem finding process, it is about exploring what problems your users are actually faced with, what drives them, what excites them, what they are going through… getting a feeling of who they are! That is what you need in order to come up with the right solutions – whether it’s design, marketing or content.

Slide 10: Persona Try to consider which insights about your customers you need for your project. Guide with possible elements – which of these might help you understand your users – in relation to your product (if designing a transport app, the commuting routine is relevant) Build your interview guide based on the elements Make sure you cover these in your conversations with users Value starts with a good research approach

Slide 11: Fail #4 - You do the wrong research Creating personas is a learning process, getting under the skin of your users. Attitudes, reasoning, motivations, excitement - trying to get those deep insights Interviews and observations are the best way to understand people Don’t be afraid to get away from the numbers on the screen and instead talk to real users!

Slide 12: Fail #5 - You struggle turning your data into meaningful personas It is terrifying having lots of research data, so much so that you might focus on the wrong things (demographics, pictures and format) Remember: state things that make you understand the users’ attitudes, not their demographics. 50% science 50% art: Be the scientist and be the storyteller

Slide 13: Fail #6 – You don’t involve other people in the process Lack of organisational learning in the process Involvement: Better chances of user centered discussion (not opinions) Better chance of good use afterwards The more engagement (understanding and empathy) created in the process the better

Slide 14: Creating personas as a team Genie Solutions – a medical software company. Guided them in the persona making process They were a diverse team - they executed the research themselves (through interviews, talking to the customer support facing staff, emails) Conducted a sense making workshop: made sense of the research as a team. Pulled out findings from each interview related to the aspects they wanted to cover (goals, motivations, routines, environment, attitudes towards risk etc..) Found differentiators and common traits, and used these to craft personas Great discussion about users: engagement, understanding and empathy. Learning during the process is just as important as the final personas

Slide 15: Fail #7 - You take them too literally Once you put your personas to use, don’t take them too literally There should be enough detail in them to help them come alive But when you use them, try to focus on the idea that they are conveying rather that their specific demographic etc. Make sure the whole team understands that they need to loosen up a bit and see the bigger picture.

Slide 16: Trap#8 - You don’t know how to use them. I have seen and made these mistakes myself! Having picture perfect personas - seems like a great idea to put them up on the wall for people to see Seeing is not enough. Have to use them hands on! Some examples of good use: Workshops with stakeholders – this is a fast way to share understanding of user goals Design sessions – designing for specific somebodies rather than generic everybody Recruit and test with users Keep discussions focused on user needs, not opinions. Ideally, you know what you will be using them for before you even build them. The more specific and relevant to the project, the better the results! Here are some examples of how we and the clients we work with use them.

Co-creation sessions – a fast way to get everyone on top of the research. People don’t have time for reports. Working on a project with other agencies (marketing, SEO) – fuels the discussions. How to recruit representative users for testing Design sprints – focus on a user – design for a specific somebody Write scenarios for design inspiration and usability-test tasks Requirements – specify which type of users would benefit from each feature/content piece Discussions with personas as user-data references. Rationale for design choices – use them to see the benefits. This imperative for communication.

Slide 17: Fail #9: You don’t test You’ve done your personas and have begun using them to craft new solutions But the designs are still not validated, just best guesses that we want to validate Don’t know how they will perform with real users. So remember: always test your designs!

Slide 18: So… Are personas a valuable tool or waste of time?

Slide 19: Are you prepared to: Form a shared idea of what personas are and how you will use them Use additional artefacts if needed Leave the desk and talk to users Be the scientist and the storyteller Get people in the organisation involved Use them in hands on sessions Test your solutions

10.
Photo/illustration
Sliders
e.g. be personality/thinking
style/behavior
Description
What characterizes her and
her main problem space?
Name/type
Influencers
Who/what influences her
decision making?
Brand perception
How does your
persona see your
brand?
Goals
What is your persona
trying to achieve on a
functional, social and
personal level?
“Quote, that highlights the essence
of the persona”
Sources
Where does she get
her information from?
Frustrations (push)
What are the painpoints
your persona experience
with current situation?
Gains (pull)
What is attracting her to a
new solution?
Inertia
What are the habits, that
makes the persona
resistant to change?
Routines/behaviours
Highlight relevant
routines – e.g. a specific
consultation
Environment
What is the context of the
environment in which
they work or operate?
Tech use and attitude
What is her technology
or devices do they use?
Role
Title, responsibilities, level
of authority, relationships
Familiarity
Experience and
familiarity with the
system
Anxiety
Her worries about new
solution/changing
behaviour?

19.
• Form a shared idea of what personas are and how you will use them
• Use additional artefacts if needed
• Leave the desk and talk to users
• Be the scientist and the storyteller
• Get people in the organisation involved
• Use them in hands on sessions
• Test your solutions
Then they will be a valuable tool!